Plastic product and process of producing same



Patented July 4, 193.3

UNITED STATES.

' 1,917,038 PATENT OFF-ICE rumours, JONES, or PETERsBUIiG, VIRGINIA PLASTIC raonucrr an!) Pnoonss or PRODUCING SAME No Drawing. Substitute for application Serial No. 51,509, filed August 20, 1925. This application filed June 19, 1929, Serial No. 372,227. i

, The invention relates to plastic products and processes of forming the same and more particularly to products formed from crude -vegetable material containing large percent ages of carbohydrates, preferably containing one or more forms of cellulose, the material thus embracing such substances as peanut hulls, oat hulls, corn-cobs, cotton seed hulls, Wood shavings and the like, which may be referred to briefly as crude vegetable mate-' rials containing a variety of celluloses, and

also to other carbohydrate material which may consist largely of pure cellulose such as cotton, it also being possible to utilize other carbohydrate materialwhich contains little, if any, cellulose. The application is identical with my application Ser. No. 51,509,'filed August 1925, and allowed December 3, 1927, which it replaces; a

The products formed by the inventionmay. comprise compositions, preferable in powdered form, which are adapted to be molded under heat and pressure to produce hard coherent bodies, which are mostly infusible and insoluble to a considerable extent, suitable for many of the uses to which such substancesas bone, celluloid, shellac, hard rubber, phenol condensation products and other plastics are put. The products of the final reaction are also included within the inven tion.

Itshould be noted that the product may be formed in-accordance with the invention,

not only from materials containing a variety of celluloses, such as peanut hulls, etc., but

I also from cotton, which is chiefly pure cellulose, and also that some forms of the productmay be made from materials containing little or no cellulose of any kind, such as corn meal. In some forms of the lnventlon, a

' powder or materialdesirable formolding purposes is formed, which comprises a binding material of resinous nature intermixed with a fibrous filler, both/binder and filler being formed from theoriginalingredients, without the necessity of first forming a separate resin and then adding a fill'er thereto. In another form of the invention, by

' varying the proportions. a resin may be'sepnrated out from the fibrous material, this being useful for varnish or other purposes to which a fusible or soluble resin may. be

put. The formation of the product is thought to proceed, from one form of carbohydrate or another, through a series of transv formations, very possibly by breaking it down, by the aid of oxidation, from more complex to snnplcr forms. Condensation products, in the nature of furfural resins, are apparently formed, but furfural as such the provision of novel products, of novel processes and process steps, all as will be more fully set forth in the following speci- Other obfication and be more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

The invention will be particularly described in connection with the treatment of peanut hulls, it being understood that other crude vegetable materials of the kind indicated above may be used with the production of similar results. T

The invention comprises a process or processes which may be carried out in various modified forms, all of which, however, utilize, or preferably utilize, certain steps in common. One of the salient features of the invention, as the same is now understood by me, consists in the production from vegetable material of the class noted of a molding composition which may be hot-molded to produce a final hard body, apparently of a resinous nature, this molding composition being characterized by its substantial freedom, so far as is indicated by the recognized tests,

from uncombined acids which would be likely to attack a metal moldv and which would be likely to renderahot-molding process uncertain or unreliable. The molding compound referred to, in its preferred form,

is also characterized by its substantial freein which the process may be practiced within the invention: in one form of the invention,

peanut hulls or, other crude vegetable material may be cooked in a closed vessel with cresol or phenol or similar body together with a proportion of a supplementary body such as an acid or a salt of a suitable acid. The cooking is continued until a blackened, partially disintegrated mass is produced which is somewhat sticky. This product is the result of reactions, the exact chemical natures of which are not exactly known. The product at this stage cannot apparently be molded under heat to produce a useful product which will be insoluble and resistant to heat. It contains uncombined organic acids such as cresylic, and inorganic acids such as hydrochloric, if used or formed in the process, which would tend to attack the mold if the material was hot-molded in its then state.

I preferably utilize this material by reducing it to a powder, preferably by grinding the same underwater, this being followed by boiling for a sufficient length of time. Various water soluble products go into solution in the water during the wet grinding process and the subsequent heat treatment, such as boiling results in freeing the comminuted product from excess acid and various volatile substances. It is possible that certain condensations may take place during the wet grinding, or the boiling, or both. The material is then further washed to remove the acid or acids as completely as possible and is dried.

The products as thus described may, for example, be formed with the aid of hydrochloric acid as the catalytic or oxidizing agent referred to above. The product thus formed can be hot-molded as in the usual hydraulic press to produce material which is useful for many of the purposes to which plastics are put. It may, however, be improved by the addition thereto of a limited amount of hexamethylenetetramine or other bodies containing the methylene radical, or equivalent hardening reagent, or by the addition of other substances as will be described hereinafter, in which case the resistance of the product finally formed in the mold to heat or boiling water or alkalis or solvents will be greatly improved.

In place of a mineral acid, such as hydrochloric acid, I find that I can use aniline hydrochloride, or a mixture of aniline oil and hydrochloric acid, tin which case an improved product results. In this case no hardening agent, such as the hexamethylenetetramine need be added to the molding powder, and the material will be formed in the mold under heat and pressureto a final product which stands a comparatively high temperature without changing shape or form and which does not disintegrate in boiling water for a reasonable length-of time. This a product also resists hydrochloric acid and the usual commercial solvents such as alcohol, benzol and gasoline for a substantial len th of time.

he process may also be carried out by the substitution of benzol for cresol, that is to say the'vegetable material may be cooked with benzol, in which case hydrochloric acid or other mineral acid should apparently be added. In this case the same series of steps I as has been described above is followed and the molding mixture thus produced maybe molded under heat and pressure without the addition of hexamethylenetetramine or any other hardening agent to produce a product which is heat and solvent resistant to amarked degree.

Also, the process just described may be modified by the use of benzol with a less proportion of cresol in addition, in which case the product seems to mold particularly well without sticking and produces a final product similar to that just described.

It may be noted at this point that various bodies may be added to the product before molding which tend to produce a harder final product. Among such substances may be noted calcium carbonate, barium carbonate, gypsum, sodium carbonate, etc. It may be noted that the addition of such substances to the product increases the value of the latter for electric insulating purposes.

In one further modification or form of process a plastic may be formed in a particularly simple and economical manner; in accordance with this form of the invention the vegetable materials such as peanut hulls,

etc., are simply mixed with a strong acid,

preferably sulphuric acid, and the mixture allowed to stand in the open air, or in a modified form of process, subjected to a cooking operation. A blackened product is thereby formed as a result apparently of the oxidation of the vegetable material. This product is then ground under water to a fine powder, the water preferably drained off and the powder given several washes to remove excess sulphuricacid. After this the washed powder is boiled or otherwise heat-treated, in the'same manner as has been described in the other modifications of the invention and after the boiling the product is washed with water until it is practically acid free to the phenothalein test. The remaining powder is dried and may be molded under heat and pressure.

both, than is employed in process such as' is first described herein in which a molding powder isformed from the vegetable material with cresol and an acid. By the use of an excess of hydrochloric acid, for example, a resin may be precipitated out during the boiling stage, or to some extent during the wet grinding stage, if desired, particularly if the wet grinding is performed with hot water. This product is a soluble and fusible resin which may be dissolved inalcohol or other solvents, and used as a varnish or for other purposes.

I will now describe the processes referred to above in somewhat greater detail. Referring, "first to the process in which the vegetable product is mixed with cresol or the like, proportions which I have found to be suitable for the process comprise two parts of peanut hulls or other waste woody prod not, from one to one and one-half parts of cresol and from Agths to ths of one part of hydrochloric acid (of commercial strength and purity), by weight. It should be under.- stood that the proportions and temperatures which are now-being given are given by way of example and not by way of limitation.

\ The mixture just described may be cooked in into an infusible, insoluble product.

a closed vessel from three to-five hours at a ten'iperature of 90 C. to 110 0., or at a lower temperature for a longer time.

The product thus formed is black and gummy -at the end of the heating but upon must be removed. In accordance with the form of the process which I now deem preferable this material is ground to an extremely fine powder under water, as stated above, various water soluble substances golng into solution during this wet grinding step. Ex-

cess cresol and phenolic derivativesthus go into solutlon to a greater or lesser extent to-,

gether with other bodies. This wet grinding step may be carried out with the use of either hot or cold water, preferably water at room temperature. r

The powder resulting is now boiled, either in the same water in which it has been ground or in fresh water, the boiling step suitably continuing for a period of 3 to 4 hours at atmospheric pressure in an open vessel, or with a reflux condenser, or other apparatus for saving the condensate. During the boiling excess cresol comes off along with various other volatile substances at about C. It seems probable that various other products contained in the powder go into solution in the water during the boiling process, some of these substances apparently being phenolic derivatives.

At the conclusion of the boiling step the powder is dried, preferably under heat which may be gradually increased to, say, C. or C. until the product is thoroughly dried. The product which is now substantially acid free so far as may be observed by the phenothalein test may be placed in the mold or it may be placed in closed containersfor use in the mold at a subsequent time. The molding powder thus formed may be hot molded, being subjected toheat of say C.

to C. and to pressure in a hydraulic press for a suitable length of time, say 10 minutes.

As has been stated above, the product which has just been described is considerably improved by the additionthereto, before molding, of a material adapted to increase the hardness and infusibility of the product. As stated, this may be hexamethylenetetramine, or. paraformaldehyde in which case from 5 to110% on the w'eight ofthe molding powder may be incorporated with the mass after the drying step, provided that this material be thoroughly intermixed with the powder. When this hardening material has been added the final molded product will not soften or change color in boiling water.

It may be noted in this connection that in the processes described there is under some circumstances no necessity for adding a filler I to the. molding mixture in contradistinction to the usual practice in the making of plastics from phenol-formaldehyde products and the like. In the processes here described the fibrous or cellulose, or celluloselike materials are not removed and may be only partially chemically changed and are still apparently present to greater or lesser extent in the powder which is to be molded, this material being accompanied by decomposition products which are adapted to act as a binder for the more or less'unreacted. material during the molding process. The effect of a fluxing agent, therefore,.which renders more fluid the portion of the mass which is adapted to--1low, is to cause theresinous or other more or less fluid material to covenand serve to bind together more fully the more or less undecomposed and more or less inert portions of the original vegetable material, whereby it acts more efiiciently to bind the mass into a-strong or coherent body.

To refer now to various details of a modified form of the process: The process described above in detail may be modified by the substitution of aniline hydrochloride or of aniline hydrochloride plus hydrochloric acid, or of aniline oil plus hydrochloric acid, for the hydrochloric acid given in the above ex ample. Thus, for example, we may mix tocondensation v to the molding composition.

gether 2 parts of the peanut hulls with from 1 to 11 parts of cresols and with fl ths to 1 part, by weight, of aniline hydrochloride, or part aniline hydrochloride plus 4 part hydrochloric acid, in place of the aniline hydrochloride above, or in place of the aniline hydrochloride from gth to /;th of 1 part of aniline oil with from %ths to of 1 part of hydrochloric acid, by weight, may be used. \Vith the aniline oil plus hydrochloric acid a period of cooking of from 5 to hours in a closed vessel at from 90 to 110 C. has been found to put the material in proper condition for the wet grinding, boiling and washing steps previously described. With aniline hydrochloric alone a considerably longer period, such as one of about hours for the cooking step, has been found necessary in some cases. With the aniline hydrochloride plus hyd roehloric acid the time of cook may be materially reduced.

The molding product formed with the use o l' the aniline hydrochloride or the aniline oil plus hydrochloric acid as noted, may be hot pressed to produce a molded article which has considerable hardness and which has the other desirable properties noted above in regard to iutusibility and insolubility and resistance to heat, these results being achieved without any added methylene containing hardening agent and without the addition of hardening agents such as calcium carbonates mentionecl above. and additions of such substances are thought not necessary with this material.

In the next mddification of the process referred to in wl'ii'c h" benzol is used in place of eresol or the like, it should be noted that a smaller proportion of benzol than is used in the ease of cresol seems to give the best results. By way of example, from ths of 1 part to 1 part benzol with 2 parts of peanut hulls and from ths to 4 parts of hydrochloric acid or comparatively strong sulphuric acid such as sulphuric acid of over 40 Baum strength, the hydrochloric acid used being preferably of commercial strength and purity. The above formula may be varied with excellent results by the addition of a. small proportion of cresol, or cresylic acid or the like to the above formula. Tlms /,th to 1 part of cresol, by

weight, may be added to the ingredients noted above.

In either of the two cases just mentioned, the time of cook in the closed vessel may be from 3 to 5 hours at from to C. after which the. grinding, washing and boiling steps. and drying and hot-molding are carried out exactly as described above. Tn this case the molded prod net will be. substantially in'lusible without the addition of hexamethylenetetramine or other hardening agent The product is used, or a much less time if steam isused.

molds well, particularly when the small proportion-of cresol is added and seems to he a desirable process because of the relative eheapness of the benzol.

In regard to the variation of the process which was last described in the peliminary discussion herein, namely, that in which the vegetable material may be simply treated with an acid, without the initial cooking, it may be noted that this process may well be carried out by using equal parts, by weight, of sulphuric acid and peanut hulls, but preferably larger proportions of acid are used, as for example, 2 parts of hulls with 8 parts of acid. The acid may, for example, be 60 crude sulphuric acid. The process may, for example, be carried out as follows. The hulls are preferably first wetted, with steam or water, and permitted to absorb this moisture, the water preferably being added within comparatively narrow limits, such as 10 to 40 percent based on the dry weight of the hulls. Sufiicient time for seasoning should be allowed, which may require 1 to 2 days if water The moisture should be applied to the bulls in the unground condition of the latter. The acid is applied to the wetted and seasoned hulls while the latter are still unground, the purpose being to merely applythe acid as a coating on the surfacesof the hulls, rather than to force the same into the hull structure, or to apply it to the surfaces of small particles. The object of the wetting is to retard the reaction and develop slow heat ing. The same efiect may be obtained by working with a weaker concentration of acid, but the procedure noted is preferred.

The hulls with applied acid are allowed to stand in the open, in the preferred method, for a sufiicient period of time, the material blackening almost immediately if strong acid is used, and heat developing within the mass. T have found good results to be obtained 1p when this step of the process was allowed to continue, for example, for 30 hours, without addition of heat. The blackened material is then wet-ground in a ball mill to a fine powder. The Water is then preferably drained off, for example, through filter paper and the powder is washed two or three times until the excess sulphuric acid has been removed. The powder is then boiled in water for a period which may, for example, be 3 hours under atmospheric pressure. The powder is then washed with water until it is acid free to the phenothalein'test. The remaining pow der is dried in the manner previously described and placed in the mold and pressed 5.: under heat producing'a plastic which ha properties that have been noted above.

It should be noted that in the above described process which is the preferred meth- 0d of carrying out this particular form of 1:

the invention, it is deemed desirable to hold the reaction within certain desirable limlts. If the hulls are ground before the acid isapplied thereto, vthe action is usually too rapid for the production of desirable products. Also, if the hulls are made too wet before the acid is applied, the resulting product is apt to be deficient in the proportion of bind ing material formed.

While, as stated, the acid treatment is preferably employed in place of the cooking step which has been described in connection with other forms of the process,it should be understood that the cooking step is not necessarily excluded from the practicing ofthe form of process herein described, since it is possible to give the material a cooking step, with externally applied heat, at the end of the step in Whichthe acid is applied, this cooking step being of longer or shorter duration, after which the wet-grinding and boiling and other steps, as above described are up lied.

nother modification of the form of process now under discussion consists in forming two batches of acid treated material in one of which the material such as peanut hulls, for example, is somewhat under-reacted, because, for example, of the use of an excess of moisture before the application of the acid, or by the use of too weak an acid, while in the other batch the reaction has been carried to a stage which may be considered as somewhat of an over-reaction, this material being very possibl unsuitable for molding operations by itsel These two batches having been obtained and the properties of the same noted, they may be added one to the other in desirable proportions in accordance with the stage of reaction in each and the combined product is then subject to the grinding and subsequent steps as above described.

Referring now to the resinous product which, as noted above, may be separated out from the mass during the wet rinding or the boiling stage, this may be ormed, for example, as follows. Starting for example with l partof the vegetable material, 2

parts of cresol and 1 part of hydrochloric acid, these ingredients are mixed and subjected to the cooking step as described in the first form of the process of making a molding powder. The wet grinding step follows the cooking step and-this is followed by the boiling as above described. A resinous body will be found to. precipitate out of the mass during the boiling step, or if desired durin the wet grinding step, or both. It is believed that the material which is only partly reacted during the cooking step is hydrolyzed during the boiling process and also during the attrition of the wet grinding step, particularly if hot Water is used in the grinding, with the simultaneous precipitation or expulsion from the mass of a resinous material.

This resin is a fusible and soluble body as the solvent used, such as hexamethylenetet v ramine, may of course be added to the resin in desirable proportions, in case it is desired to bake the varnlsh coating when obtamed to produce an infusible and insoluble coating.

It may be noted that this precipitated resin may be formed when the vegetable material used consists wholly or almost wholly of pure cellulose as in the case of cotton, or when the vegetable material comprises the various celluloses or pseudocelluloses as in the case of peanut hulls or the other woody or pentose containing materials noted, and also that the precipitated resin may be obtained when a carbohydrate body is used containing very little, if any, cellulose as in the case of corn meal. For example, cotton may be substituted for the peanut hulls in the example just given. The following are examples of proportions when corn 1neal.is used. 1 part corn meal, 2 parts cresol, 1 part hydrochloric acid, by weight. Second, 2 parts corn meal, 1% parts cresol, 1 part hydrochloric acid, by weight. In all of these cases a considerable proportion of resin may be recovered. It should also be noted that, when a fibrous vegetable material is used, such as cotton or peanut hulls or the like, a residue remains after the gum has precipitated out and this residue may be utilized as a molding composition, being dried after the boiling step and placed in the molds as described above. By increasing the proportion of hydrochloric acid or the cresylic body, it may be possible to increase the yield of precipitated resin and correspondingly decrease the proportion of the remaining moldable material.

It should be noted that in various of the rocesses described above a by-product. may be obtained from the soluble matter contained in the water in which the product resulting from the first cook has been ground, boiled and washed. The residue from this liquor after evaporation of the Water is a black tarry paste which I have found useful for various purposes. It may be used as a binder for powdered coal in forming briquettes or for the purposes of a binder 1n other cases in which the fact that the material is water soluble is not detrimental. As a binder for coal briquettes it has the advantage that it will not smoke, in contradistinction to various tarry substances which have been proposed.

A further useful application of this resii the wash water from a peanut hull benzolsulphuric acid cook, a white percipitate is formed, which is similar to the result which is obtained when the same substance is added to a bark extract suitable for tanning. Also,

after the lead acetate solution has been added, it is noted that the liquor has the characteristic odor of an oak bark tanning extract. 1 This tanning extract may be applied to the tanning of cowhide, etc., and also may be used for mordanting-dyes, and being a byproduct which otherwise would be thrown away, it may, of course be produced cheaply for the purposes noted. The material, when used as a tanning extract, may, of course, be

. mixed with other known'tanning extracts for various purposes with a consequent reduction in cost. The wash liquor may also be fractionally distilled, if desired, and various cresylic bodies recovered.

It may be noted that the residue referred to above which may be applied to useful ends, amounts to a considerable percentage. The molding powder produced as the direct result of the process may be in varying percentages in accordance with the different forms of processes used, but may be stated roughly to be in the neighborhood of 50% of the weight of the initial ingredients, or up to approximately 100% of the weight of the vegetable material used in the process, it being understood that these figures apply only to processes in which the purpose is to produce a molding powder without the formation of a precipitated resin.

The finally hardened materials formed in the mold by the various processes described have the properties in regard to heat resist ance, infusibility and insolubility which have been noted above, the properties of the finally cured materials made with cresol and aniline, with benzol, and with benzol cresol, all without added hardening agent, and. the cresol-hydrochloric acid product with added hexamethylenetetramine, all being similar. It may likewise be noted that all of these products, including the one in which the hulls are simply treated with sulphuric acid as a first step, are found to possess good mechanical strength and have resistance against breaking analogous to that of the Well known phenol-formaldehyde condensation products in the form in which the same .commonly appear on the market, that is, in which the condensation product contains a considerable amount of wood flour or other filler. The material machines in much the same way as the well-known phenol condensation products. The material takes a good finish and its properties as an electric insulator are good,

It may further be noted that all of the molding materials described are fusible, before the final heat treatment in the mold, but that they'are not all alike in solubility. The cresol-hydrochloric acid product is freely soluble, and the aniline oil-hydrochloric acid, aniline hydrochloride, and aniline hydrochloride with cresol products, are readily soluble, in their molding powder condition, whereasthe sulphuric acid with peanut hulls, and the hulls with benzol, are practically insoluble in ethyl or methyl alcohol, or acetone, and the benzol-hulls sulphuric acid product with added cresol is only slightly soluble, these remarks applying to products made with the proportions cited in the various examples given above. All of the products described, in their finally molded and hardened condition are quite highly resistant to heat, not softening perceptibly, for example, at temperatures above that at which hard rubber softens markedly.

The reactions ensuing during the various steps of the process are apparently extremely complex and no attempt will be made to definitely explain the same herein, further than has somewhat rtentatively been done above. It is noted that the boiling step which has been described is believed to be an especial eificacious method of removing the free acids and volatile substances referred to and it appears likely that chemical and/or physical changes take place in he material during this step, but other met oils of heat treatment may be used for this purpose.

It should, of course, be understood that the invention is not limited strictly to-the exact steps which have been particularly described by way of example, the invention being thought to be of considerable breadth of scope and entitled to considerable range of equivalents. It should, of course, be understood that where reference is made to cresol or cresylic bodies, that phenol and phenolic bodies are included, and that crude cresol or cresylic acid may be used, as well as other crude cresol-containing substances, and that reference in the claims to'a phenol, or the like, should be taken to include both phenols and cresols, etc.

While I have described my invention in considerable detail with respect to the preferred methods or processes for performing the same, it will be understood by those skilled in the art after understanding my invention, that various changes and modifications may be made Without departing from.

the spirit and scope of the invention and I aim in the appended claims to cover all such modifications and changes as come within the spirit of the invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

' proportion of the vegetable material than of i the phenol, and continuing the treatment until a sticky, gummy, only partially disintegrated mass is produced, finely dividin such product, and removing substantially a water-solublesubstanees and uncombined acids therefrom.

2. A process of producing a plastic product, comprising, heatin a fibrous carboliydrate-containing vegeta le material with a phenol and a mineral agent, with a greater proportion of the vegetable material than of the phenol,and continuing the treatment until a sticky, gumm only partially disintegrated mass is pro uced, grinding the product in the presence of water, and removing water-soluble substances and uncombined acids therefrom.

3. A process of producing a plastic product, comprising, heating a pntosan-cohtaining material with a phenol and a mineral agent, with a greater proportion of thevegetable material than of the phenol, and. continuing the treatment until a sticky, gummy, only partially disintegrated mass is produced, grinding the product in the presence of water, and removing water-soluble substances and uncombined acids therefrom.

4. A process of producing a plastic product, comprising, heating a carbohydrate-contain-ing vegetable material with a phenol and a mineral agent, with a greater proportion of the vegetable material than of the phenol,

and continuing the treatment until a sticky,

gummy only partially disintegrated mass is produced, grinding the product in the pres ence of water, boiling the powder, and washing the same.

5. A process/of producing a plastic product, comprising heating a carbohydrate-com taining vegetable material with a phenol and a mineral agent, with a greater proportion Y of the vegetable material than of the phenol,

and continuing the treatment until a sticky,

- gummy, only partially disintegrated mass is produced, grinding the product in the presence of water, removing the water, and boiling the powder in fresh water.

6. A process of producing a plastic product, comprising, heating a fibrous carbohydrate-containing vegetable material with a phenol and a mineral acid agent, continuing the treatment until a sticky, gummy, only partially disintegrated mass is produced,-

finely dividing the product, and removing substantially all water-soluble substances and uncombined acids therefrom.

7 A process of producing a plastic product, comprising, heatin a fibrous carbohydrate-containing vegeta 1e material with a cresol and a mineral acid substantially in the proportion of 2 parts of the vegetable -material, from 1 to 1 parts of cresol, and the acid from to about per cent by weight of. the cresol, continuing the treatment until a sticky, gummy, only partially disintegrated mass is produced, finely dividing the product, and removing substantially all water-soluble substances and uncombined acids therefrom.

8. A process of producing a plastic product, comprising, heating a fibrous carbohydrate-containing vegetable material with a phenol and a mineral'agent, with a greater proportion of the vegetable material than of the phenol, and continuing the treatment until a sticky, gummy, only partially disintegrated mass is produced, finely dividing the product, and removing substantially all water-soluble substances and uncombined acids therefrom, and mixing with hexamethylene tetraminc, to form a material adapted to be molded under heat into a hard, coherent body.

9. A process of producing a plastic product, comprising, heating a fibrous carbohydrate-containing vegetable material with a phenol and a mineral acid agent, continuing the treatment until a sticky, gummy, only partially disintegrated mass is produced,

nely dividing the product, and removing substantially all water-soluble substances and uncombined acids therefrom, and mixing with a methylene-containinghardening agent to form a material adapted to be glided under heat to form a hard, coherent 18 A process of producing a plastic product and also a liquor suitable for tanning, comprising heating a carbohydrate-contain ing vegetable material with a phenol and a mineral acid agent, in a closed vessel, con tinuing the treatment until a sticky, gummy, only partially disintegrated mass is produced, grinding the product in water, heating the same, removing the comminuted mass from the water, and recovering the liquor remaining after the comminuted mass has been removed.

11. As a new article of manufacture, a partially disintegrated fibrous mass, comprising a reaction-product of a carbohydrate-containing vegetable material and a phenol, characterized by the facts that it assumes a dough-like consistency when heated, and never becomes thinly fluid, that it is potentially reactive, and is substantially free from free acids, volatile matter and water-soluble products. I

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification. 

